Nanotechnology General News

(Nanowerk News) M+W Zander, a leading architecture, engineering and construction-management firm for high-tech production plants, manufacturing facilities and research complexes, announced today it has been selected by the international Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) to design its new nanotechnology center in Braga, Portugal.

Located on the campus of the University of Minho in Braga, the 230,000-square-foot project (21,400 square meters) will feature Class 100 and 1000 clean rooms, central characterization, including electron and scanning-probe microscopy and labs suited for a wide range of scientific disciplines.

Besides the main scientific building that will be the hub of the 12-acre campus, the first phase of the project includes residential accommodations for staff and visiting professors. The second phase will include a business incubator and a nanotechnology interpretive center. When completed in 2009, the INL will employ several hundred people, including 200 scientific researchers.

In addition to its leading-edge science, the INL also will stand out for its striking design, with curving lines that dramatically conform to surrounding topography and offer a compelling contrast to traditional research facilities. “When we were tasked with creating a beautiful place for thinking, we knew we had our inspiration for the project. It was easily the most poetic aspiration for architecture we’ve ever heard. This evoked images of monastic cloisters, and naturally suggested using the project to shape and protect such a space from its busy, urban setting,” said M+W Zander architectural design leader Ken Filar, AIA.

The efficient, aesthetic design of INL, which was chosen in a competitive review process, resulted from the creative collaboration between M+W Zander’s U.S. and European offices. The architectural design and construction management are led by M+W Zander US Operations. M+W Zander’s European staff, based in Stuttgart, Germany, the corporate home of M+W Zander, will share engineering responsibilities with the North American office.

“M+W Zander’s unique strengths really shine in a project like this,” said John Busch, the project design manager for M+W Zander US Operations. “We not only have unmatched talent in the design of nano facilities, but we can synchronize the assets of multiple offices around the world to offer something no other firm can.”

The INL project confirms M+W Zander’s position as one of the world’s most experienced firms in design and construction of nanotech research facilities. It also expands M+W Zander’s global presence in this highly specialized field. INL joins the National Nanotechnology Laboratory in Moscow, part of Russia’s Kurchatov Institute, as an example of M+W Zander’s capacity to deliver top-tier nanotechnology facilities worldwide.

M+W Zander’s portfolio of nanotech projects also includes:

The Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Ill.

Albany NanoTech Complex, University of Albany-State University of New York, which was ranked No. 1 among global nanotech facilities by Small Times magazine in 2007

The Nanoscale Research Facility, University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.

The Nanotechnology Research Center Building, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, which will be the largest nanotech research center in the Southeast United States when completed this summer

The Neuroscience and Biomedical Technology Research Building, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, and

The Research & Development Center Relocation and Renovation, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, San Jose, Calif.

About M+W Zander (www.mw-zander.com)

With its subsidiary companies, MWZ Beteiligungs GmbH, based in Stuttgart, offers worldwide integrated business solutions for company facilities, high-tech production plants and industrial complexes. The Group focuses on the electronic, solar, pharmaceutical, chemical industries, research institutes, the energy sector and production of cleanroom components. Facility management forms an additional focus. In 2007, M+W Zander generated sales of about 2.1 billion euros with around 8,200 employees.

About M+W Zander US Operations (www.mw-zander.us/)

M+W Zander US Operations is a full service architecture, engineering and construction services firm based in Chicago. Operating in the U.S. since 1941, the firm specializes in complex, technically challenging projects for clients in electronics, life sciences, emerging technologies and scientific research.